The Destiny 2 beta for PS4 and Xbox One players went down a storm, and now PC players are eagerly awaiting their turn to jump into the game later this month.

As fans of the first game might well know one of the biggest changes to the game has seen the Crucible multiplayer mode drop to four-on-four player combat across all modes.

“We’re moving all activities in PvP to 4v4,” said Luke Smith, game director on Destiny 2, during Bungie’s gameplay reveal livestream some months back.

Essentially that's a decrease of one-third of players from Destiny, which supported up to six-on-six multiplayer gaming.

Recently we have the chance to speak with Destiny 2's Crucible design lead Lars Bakken, who was able to help explain some of the more intricate reasons for changing this core component of the game.

In our brief time talking to Lars we discuss what impact it will have on players, why he believes it's best for the game moving forward and his message to any players still unconvinced by the games bold move.

In the second half of our conversation with Lars, we discuss how they went about making those 4v4 changes, where that leaves popular 6v6 game modes like Rumble and Clash, the possibility of a Destiny 2 PTR and whether Bungie will enter the eSports arena with Destiny 2.

Take a look at some Destiny 2 PS4 timed-exclusive content coming to the game, including a look at PlayStation 4 exclusive armour, Stike (Lake of Shadows), Co-Op Strike, Ship (City Apex), Weapons and PVP map Retribution.

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You've made the move to 4v4 crucible game mode and in the case of something like control, it's completely different. How do approach something like control when you're changing it so significantly.

Lars Bakken: So, you're right this is4v4 across everywhere and players will find that there will be changes to existing modes that come back. We can't talk about today, but we're looking forward to people finding out about these things.

With the changes to Control, it fundamentally changes a bunch of stuff and we knew that, but when we’ve done these things it's to make that whole experience holistically feel correct.

So the changes, was it more a case of not just cutting things and saying no more, but looking at how you could make them work them within that new 4v4 framework, as you've done with control?

Lars Bakken: It's really a combination of like 'hey these things don’t work anymore maybe we need to redesign them and bring them back later' or 'these things totally work but we need to change these fundamental things and it will still feel like the thing you’re used to'.

Ultimately, it will feel different in a way that we think players will really enjoy.

Ok, exactly. So you've reworked Trials which is now 4v4, but how does that change the dynamic?

Lars Bakken: Trials is different, I am not going to talk too much about any of the nuances of what’s different but it’s coming back and the biggest change is the 4 v 4 change.

Well, there are other changes there too, but I believe people will be blown away when they see the trials stuff. I wish I could talk about more about it.

And are you going to be looking at how you can rework those larger crucible games like Rumble and Clash which were 6v6, or are they gone complet...

Lars Bakken: It’s gone.

Right, so it's not something you guys might revisit or rework in the future? Like could we see 6v6 return, but maybe on a larger map?

Lars Bakken: I think at this point it would be very difficult to go back to those types of experiences and the reason I say that is because the entire game was created around this 4v4 focus.

I wouldn’t even know where to start. Like do you know double the team size or like create bigger maps.

It’s not like we couldn’t do it, it’s just there are so many things that are fundamentally reliant on how the systems connect, it would be pretty difficult to do.

Sorry I have to break fans hearts. I believe the experience is so good that I want them to play it and see it for themselves.

You're now on PC, you've got that connection with Blizzard as well, what are the chances of seeing a Destiny 2 PTR in the same way that we've seen with Overwatch, so you guys could try things before rolling them out?

Lars Bakken: I can say that internally we do that already. Whether we ever decide to do a public one I am not sure.

There is no way to release a game like Destiny without having played it in a realistic environment and in order for us to be confident in it and all the systems we have to play it in a real space.

So while we have those things for our development of the game, whether we ever open them up to the public, I don’t know, like maybe, we just don’t know.

I'm sure it's no doubt complicated, but surely it would also be really beneficial to open that up?

Lars Bakken: I mean, I'd have to think about it. Obviously, the benefits are people would get to see stuff early and we would get feedback on it, but like you know the downside is, it is complex enough to run a game like Destiny just with the team that we have without also running another duplicate version of Destiny that’s in the future. It’s a lot of work.

So, it’s like what’s the best thing for the game, I don’t know, I can’t answer that question. It might be that we do something like this, but also it might not be the right thing for Destiny and the extra stress on the team.

A lot of the changes around the crucible seem to be about making it more competitive and having a more focused 4v4 game. Is there a chance that we could see Destiny 2 in any sort of eSports environment? It's certainly more formatted for that scene than what it was before.

Lars Bakken: That is a great question. I think Bungie has a long tradition of being active in the competitive realm, starting way back in our previous games and Halo.

It’s something that we talk about a lot but I also think the eSports scene is really interesting and I think players choose where they want to spend their time and they like to choose and support the games that they love. If they decided Destiny is a space that they want to love and prop up in that way, then that’s something we think we are interested in.

But yes, I don’t want to presume that it is from the beginning. Yes, we want to make the game feel more comfortable in a tournament setting, that was one of our goals but that doesn’t mean that we go straight to like world championships.

I wish I could give you a definitive answer more than that but I think the reality is we want people to feel comfortable there first and if that’s something that they want and we have the ability to support it then we’d love to support it.